Assad’s commitment and dedication
to destroying every bit of hope for a better future is matched only by the sheer
stupidity of those still betting on him.

08:44 pm

“The Middle East Institute,
Syrian American Medical Society, and Physicians for Human Rights hosted Dr.
Ammar Ghanem (SAMS) andElise
Baker (PHR) for the release of a new report, Madaya: Portrait of a Syrian Town Under Siege. The
report examines the public health effects of the siege and puts forth
recommendations about best practices in humanitarian assistance to
besieged areas.”

Meanwhile, “In an exclusive open letter addressed to the children of Syria,
the former U.K. ambassador to Lebanon, and advisor to NGO Theirworld, Tom
Fletcher, points to failures of the international community in keeping its
promises to fund the education of Syrian refugees.”

07:18 pm

Flip-Flopping

Mike Morell who advocated cooperation
with Assad and Putin in Syria few months ago now accuses Trump of “damaging”
America’s national security on account of the latter’s bromance with Putin. He
says that he will be voting for Hillary, I just hope he doesn’t end up advising
her.

06:58 pm

A 2-day long siege in the central prison of the Suwaida province, Syria, ended
today after pro-regime forces opened fire on political prisoners protesting
their maltreatment on the hands of prison-guards. Four prisoners were
reportedly killed, with few injured. Protesters were specifically concerned for
the fate of prisoners recently transported to Damascus, a move that’s usually considered
a step towards eventual liquidation. The Suwaida prison hosts over a 1,000
inmates, the majority of them are political prisoners. The province is a majority-Druze
enclave, and has retained a position that is considered neutral for the most
part in the ongoing civil war.

04:58 pm

As I read through the Black Lives Matter Manifesto “Invest-Divest,” I find that
many of its ideas dealing with domestic issues to be positive albeit too
aspirational in nature to inspire any real policy change at this stage. On
foreign policy issues, however, the Manifesto is an unmitigated disaster. After
reading the sections on foreign policy, one cannot help but come out with the impression
that the United States, Israel, the CIA and Western corporations are the source
of all evil in the world, including genocide. No other state or non-state actor
is blamed for anything, and there is no attempt at contextualizing any of
America’s, or Israel’s, policies. It’s as though the Cold War never happened, corrupt
and authoritarian rulers don’t exist, and terrorism and terrorist groups are a chimera.
If this is the worldview guiding the actions of Black Lives Matter activists
then no good can come out of their movement. I still believe in “Black Lives Matter”
as a moral ethos, but, I cannot endorse the movement.

03:40 pm

If the plane carrying the released American prisoners was not allowed to
leave until the one carrying the money landed, then, the payment was ransom, no
matter how we spin it.

Indeed, recent developments in Turkey including current rapprochement with Russia
reflect long-term mismanagement by the Obama administration of Turkish-American
relations. Turkish President Erdogan’s personality and ambitions may have made any
discussion quite difficult, but the administration’s diplomacy in this regard seems
to have always lacked the much needed sense of urgency and foresight to prevent
arriving at this juncture. So NATO might have been
lost long before Trump made his entry onto the stage.

The fact that it was George W. Bush who signed the
agreement on the Iraqi pullout does not forgive Obama’s bungling of the matter.
How so? Because the idea was to pull out leaving a stable Iraq behind. Ensuring
that was one of the primary tasks entrusted to the Obama team. Yet, the
administration showed little interest in challenging the sectarian policies of
the Maliki government despite ample warnings that they were facilitating the
reemergence of Al-Qaeda and the appearance of ISIS. Obama should have realized
months before the pullout that the country is not ready to left alone, and he
should have seriously pushed to negotiate an extension of the deal.

01:10 pm

And
now for someone completely indifferent…

Obama:
Big Chunk of My Gray Hair Comes Out of Syria Meetings: “President Obama
talks about one of the biggest issues of his presidency, the civil war in
Syria, and how it weighs on him.” Nice try Mr. President, but you’re
fooling no one. The moment you refused to impose a no-fly/no-go zone you
condemned us all to hell. And none of the excuse you offered made any sense:
the plan did not call for massive deployment of American military might, and
did not call for thousands of American troops to be sent to Syria, and, had it
been done early on in the crisis, it would hot have even called for arming rebels,
as they were none. Once Assad was deprived of his military advantage, protesters
would have taken over most towns and cities in Syria and would have been able
to provide effective governance. Negotiations under international supervision
would have accomplished the rest. No, this is not wishful thinking. We have
seen these dynamics play out in the first 8-12 months. Assad’s extremely
violent tactics coupled with your indifference combined to transform the
situation into a civil war, a proxy war, and the largest global humanitarian
catastrophe in decades.

Barack
Obama says he does not trust Russia over peace in Syria. "I am not confident
that we can trust the Russians and Vladimir Putin, which is why we have to test
[them].” If they don’t play ball, "Russia will have shown itself very
clearly to be an irresponsible actor on the world stage that is supporting a
murderous regime and will have to answer to that on the international stage.”

But how will this impression of
Russia as “an irresponsible actor on the world stage” help stop its multiplying
war crimes in support of Assad’s “murderous regime”? Russia’s crimes now
include bombing civilian neighborhoods, targeting hospitals and doctors, and
using internationally banned weapons such as white phosphorus, vacuum and cluster
bombs. And still we expect Putin to show he’s willing to become a responsible
actor? And let’s not forget Iran of course.

01:00 pm

Bad governance is the plague
infecting most Arab-majority countries, and, despite the Arab Spring and its
myriad revolutions, nothing has so far changed. Will Arab countries that were
not directly affected by the revolutions learn the lesson and improve their
governance styles?

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